Columbia  (Hnitoem'tp 

CoUege  of  3^\^v^itim&  anb  ^urgeonss 


^j^gmxxtfti  Wm& 


Kentucky's    Pioneer 
Lithotomists 


A.  H.  BARKLEYJM.  D.,  (Hon.)  M.  C. 

LEXII^TON,    KY. 


/^/  C?. 


MEMBER: 

American  Medical  Association, 

Congress  Surgeons  of  North  America, 

Mississippi  Valley  Medical  Association, 
Kentucky  State  Medical  Society, 

Kentucky   Valley  Medical  Society, 

Fayette  County  Medical  Society. 


C.  J.  KREHBIEL  &  COMPANY,  Publishers 

CINCINNATI,  OHIO 

I913 


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/a. 


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//-3 


Copyright  1913, 

BY 

A.  H.  BARKLEY,  M.  D. 


This  book 

is  most  respectfully  dedicated 

to  the 

Pioneer    Surgeons    of    Kentucky, 

who  contributed 

so  much  to  the  advancement 

of  surgery  in  this 

country. 


Preface 


'T^HE  author,  in  presenting  this  little 
-*■  book  to  the  profession,  was  prompted 
to  do  so  some  time  ago  by  being  pre- 
sented with  many  interesting  specimens, 
diplomas  and  instruments,  along  with 
much  valuable  information,  by  Miss 
Nannie  M.  Bush,  a  daughter  of  Dr.  J. 
M.  Bush,  who  knew  these  great  surgeons 
and  was  thoroughly  conversant  with 
their  lives. 

It  is  only  proper  that  some  recognition 
should  be  taken  of  these  men  and  their 
achievements,  and  to  this  end  the  author 
has  in  a  feeble  way  attempted  to  place 
before  the  profession  the  incidents  which 
occurred  in  their  lives. 

He    feels  much  indebtedness  to  Miss 

Bush,  to  Prof.  L.  E.  Nollau  for  excellent 

photographs,   and   also  to  Miss   Dalton, 

the  typist  who  rendered  much  valuable 

aid. 

A.  H.  Barkley. 

Lexington,  Ky., 

Ij8  North   Upper  Street. 


Illustrations 


PAGE 

1.  Dr.  Ephraim  McDowell 19 

2.  Lithotomy     Instruments    which    McDowell 

used  when  he  operated  on  President  James 

K.  Polk. 41 

3.  McDowell's  Residence  and  Office  in  Danville, 

Kentucky 45 

4.  Monument  erected  to  Dr.  McDowell  by  the 

Kentucky  State  Medical   Society 47 

5.  Dr.  Benjamin  Winslow  Dudley 57 

6.  Portable  Microscope  purchased  by  Dr.  Dud- 

ley in  Paris  in  18 12 77 

7.  Instruments  used  by  Dr.  Dudley 81 

8.  Forceps  used  by  Dudley  in  Lithotomy  Opera- 

tions        83 

9.  Stones  removed  by  Dr.  Dudley 87 

10.  "  U  U         «  U  g^ 

11.  "  "  "      "  "       93 

12.  "  "  "      "  "       95 

13.  Fairlawn,  the  Residence  of  Dr.  B.  W.  Dudley  99 

14.  The  last  Resting  Place  of  Dr.  B.  W.  Dudley.  .  lOi 

15.  Dr.  James  M.  Bush 109 

16.  Lithotrites  purchased  in  Paris  by  Dr.  James 

M.  Bush. 123 

17.  Degrees  conferred  upon  Dr.  James  M.  Bush.  .    127 

18.  Honorary  Degree  from  the  Medical  Society 

of  Lexington 1 29 

19.  Degree  from  Transylvania  University 133 

20.  Diploma  from  the  Medico-Chirurgical  Society 

of  Kentucky 135 

21.  Residence  of  Dr.  James  M.  Bush 139 

22.  Grave  of  Dr.  James  M.  Bush 141 

23.  Dr.  Robert  Peter 147 

24.  Transylvania  University  Medical  Hall 153 

25.  Absolom  Driver,  Janitor  Transylvania  Med- 

ical Hall 159 


Introduction 


Introduction 


TN  presenting  the  facts  concerning  Ken- 
tucky's  Lithotomists,  it  is  appropriate 
and  just  that  something  should  be  said 
regarding  the  time  in  which  these  great 
men  Hved,  and  the  environment  which 
set  its  impress  upon  their  character.  The 
picture  is  full  of  meaning,  dignity,  and 
simplicity.  During  a  portion  of  their 
career,  Kentucky  was  still  a  section  of 
Virginia.  The  grounds  on  which  they 
played  as  children  were  occupied  by  their 
fathers  under  what  was  known  as  a 
''Tomahawk  Claim."  Beyond  lay  end- 
less leagues  of  shadowy  forest. 

Illinois  had  not  yet  been  admitted  into 
the  sisterhood  of  states.  The  vast  do- 
main west  of  the  Mississippi  had  not 
been  explored.  The  city  of  St.  Louis 
was   but   an   outpost   for   traders.      The 


1 2  Introduction 

name  of  Chicago  had  not  yet  been  coined. 
Fort  Dearborn,  occupied  by  two  compa- 
nies of  United  States  troops,  marked  a 
roll  in  the  prairie  among  the  sloughs 
where  stands  today  the  Queen  and  Mis- 
tress of  the  Lakes.  Cincinnati  had  not 
yet  taken  her  place  on  the  map,  but  was 
known  as  Fort  Washington.  General 
Pakenham  had  not  ^^ttempted  the  cap- 
ture of  New  Orleans,  and  General  Jack- 
son, who  was  to  drive  him  with  his  troop- 
ers back  to  his  ships,  was  unknown  to 
fame.  Wars  with  Indians  were  of  fre- 
quent occurrence.  The  prow  of  a  steam- 
boat had  never  cut  the  waters  of  a  west- 
ern stream,  and  the  whistle  of  a  locomo- 
tive was  unheard  in  this  section.  There 
were  only  two  avenues  by  which  Ken- 
tucky could  be  reached  from  the  East. 
One  was  by  the  Ohio  River;  the  other 
was  the  Wilderness  Road,  blazed  by 
Daniel  Boone.  The  former  was  covered 
by  keel-boats,  flat-boats  and  canoes. 
The  latter  was  traversed  on  horseback 
or  on  foot;  no  wheel  had  broken  it  or 
been  broken  by  it. 

The  fathers  of  these  three  great  west- 


Introduction  13 

ern  surgeons  followed  this  road  after 
crossing  the  Alleghenies.  They  were  a 
clear-eyed,  bold  and  adventurous  people. 
They  wrested  the  land  from  the  natives, 
made  it  secure  by  their  arms,  and  by  the 
toil  of  their  hands  fitted  it  for  its  present 
civilization.  It  was  in  such  an  atmos- 
phere that  these  heroes  in  the  ruddy 
exploits  of  surgery  were  reared.  From 
such  ancestors  they  drew  the  dauntless 
courage  which  was  so  often  put  to  the 
test  in  their  achievements,  the  fame  of 
which  will  never  be  effaced  by  the  fingers 
of  time. 

One  is  tempted  to  tarry  yet  awhile  in 
the  silver  moonlight  of  the  years  that 
are  no  more,  but  echoing  in  our  ears  come 
the  warning  words   of  Horace: 

"Est    brevitati    opus,    ut    currat    sententia," 


Chapter  I 

Ephraim  McDowell 


CHAPTER  I 


EPHRAIM    MCDOWELL 


pPHRAIM  McDowell  was  the 
^^  ninth  child,  born  to  his  parents, 
Samuel  and  Mary  McDowell,  on  No- 
vember II,  1771,  in  Rockbridge  County, 
Virginia.  He  came  to  Danville,  Ken- 
tucky, with  his  father,  at  the  age  of  thir- 
teen, after  a  most  perilous  trip  through 
a  country  seldom  traveled.  After  en- 
countering many  hardships  and  suffering 
much  privation,  they  finally  reached  their 
destination,  Danville,  Kentucky,  then 
the  Athens   of  the  West. 

There  is  an  old  saying  that  blood  will 
tell;  and  yet  previous  accounts  of  Mc- 
Dowell seem  to  make  little  or  no  men- 
tion of  the  significance  of  the  surname. 
It  is  a  modification  of  the  Gaelic  Mac 
Dughall,  or  A/[ac  Dougall,  meaning  son 
or  descendant  of  the  dark  stranger.  The 
name  was  given  over  ten  centuries   ago 


1 8      Kentucky'' s  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

to  Danish  settlers  in  Galloway,  that  part 
of  southwestern  Scotland  which  gave 
birth  to  the  Revolutionary  leader,  John 
Paul  Jones,  and  the  very  district  where 
Robert  Burns  sleeps  the  dreamless  sleep 
that  knows  no  waking.  To  this  day  there 
are  McDowells  in  the  western  Scottish 
borderland,  whose  motto  is,  Vincere  vel 
mori.  Among  the  English  and  Scottish 
adventurers  who  settled  upon  Irish  estates 
confiscated  by  the  Crown  were  the  pro- 
genitors of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  and 
it  was  from  the  Emerald  Isle  that  a  later 
generation  set  sail  for  America.  Finally 
the  surgeon  with  the  Scottish  surname 
finds  himself  in  the  new  Kentucky  home. 
When  McDowell  was  a  mere  child  he 
showed  traits  that  were  destined  to 
evolve  a  great  man.  He  developed  early 
into  a  strikingly  handsome  young  man, 
being  tall,  very  erect,  black-eyed  and  of 
gracious  manners.  He  was  indeed  a 
commanding  figure  in  any  circle  in  which 
he  chose  to  move.  He  was  a  splendid 
conversationalist,  well  informed  on  all 
the  leading  topics  of  the  day,  a  great 
lover  of  music,   although   not  himself  a 


Dr.  Ephraim  McDowell 


Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists      21 

musician,  a  strong  admirer  of  everything 
pertaining  to  nature,  and  more  especially 
of  flowers,  for  which  he  had  unusual 
fondness.  In  fact,  he  was  a  man  of  fine 
sense,  with  a  well-poised  mind  and  keen 
perceptions,  readily  appreciative  of  every- 
thing that  was  good  and  beautiful. 

Shortly  after  coming  to  Kentucky  he 
entered  school  such  as  the  neighborhood 
at  that  time  afforded.  Later  he  went  to 
Georgetown,  Kentucky,  twelve  miles 
north  of  Lexington,  where  he  entered  the 
well-known  school  of  Worley  and  James. 

Here  he  remained,  closely  applying 
himself  for  some  time,  and  later  went  to 
Staunton,  Virginia,  where  he  began  the 
study  of  medicine  in  the  office  of  Dr. 
Humphrey.  He  studied  daily  under  Dr. 
Humphrey  for  two  or  three  years.  Little 
is  known  of  Humphrey,  except  that  he 
enjoyed  a  good  reputation  and  had  a 
large  practice.  McDowell  met,  in  Staun- 
ton, Dr.  Samuel  Brown,  who  was  also  a 
student    under   Humphrey. 

Like  many  other  Scots,  he  had  a  ready 
wit,  enjoyed  a  joke,  and  would  take  a 
delight    in    playing    innocent   pranks    on 


22      Kentucky^ s  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

his  friends.  He  was  fond  of  such  athletic 
sports  as  were  indulged  in  in  those  days. 
It  is  said  of  him  that  while  attending 
school  he  early  became  the  leader  of 
those  contending  for  athletic  honors. 
While  studying  in  Edinburgh  he  easily 
outclassed  all  rivals  at  foot  racing.  In 
fact,  one  of  the  Edinburgh  papers  at  that 
time  said  of  him,  ''He  has  a  superb 
physique,  is  lithe,  and  of  almost  Hercu- 
lean strength."  Such  was  a  notice  that 
appeared  after  he  had  defeated  a  half- 
dozen  of  the  best  runners  in  Scotland  at 
that  time.  McDowell  was  a  diligent 
worker,  and  always  kept  in  mind  one 
thing,  that  he  expected  to  study  medi- 
cine, and  to  this  end  he  trained  himself 
most  carefully.  In  short,  McDowell 
practiced  what  Pope  preached  in  the 
familiar  lines: 

"A  little  learning  is  a  dangerous  thing; 
Drink  deep,  or  taste  not  the  Pierian  spring." 


Chapter  II 


Ephraim  McDowell  pursues  the  Study  of 
Medicine  abroad 


CHAPTER  II 

MCDOWELL  PURSUES  THE  STUDY  OF 
MEDICINE    ABROAD 

A  FTER  leaving  Staunton,  Virginia,  in 
^  company  with  Samuel  Brown,  Mc- 
Dowell went  to  Edinburgh,  Scotland,  in 
1793,  where  he  and  Brown  entered  the 
University  and  attended  lectures  during 
the  years  1793  and  1794.  While  attend- 
ing the  University  he  placed  himself  under 
the  renowned  surgeon,  John  Bell,  under 
whom  he  took  a  special  course.  Dr.  Bell 
at  that  time  was  not  connected  with  the 
University,  but  conducted  a  private  Quiz, 
and  many  of  his  students,  more  especially 
McDowell  and  Brown,  afterward  ac- 
quired a  national  reputation. 

McDowell  was  devoted  to  John  Bell, 
whom  he  esteemed  most  highly,  and  in 
after  life  he  frequently  referred  to  Bell 
as  his  "accomplished  instructor,"  and  it 
may  be  said,  without  fear  of  contradic- 


26      Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

tion,  that  the  idea  of  removing  an  ovary 
had  its  inception  when  Bell  was  lecturing 
on  diseased  ovaries,  and  spoke  of  the 
utter  futility  of  the  methods  of  treat- 
ment then  in  vogue  to  relieve  such  a  con- 
dition. In  the  course  of  his  address  he 
intimated  that  operation  might  relieve 
the  trouble,  and  at  the  same  time  relieve 
the  patient. 

During  this  course  of  lectures,  Bell 
spent  much  time  on  ''stone  in  the  blad- 
der." McDowell  became  much  inter- 
ested, as  he  did  in  all  things  pertaining  to 
medicine,  but  especially  so  in  this.  Among 
other  things  Bell  told  them  about  stone 
was  the  fact  that  it  was  found  in  people 
residing  in  a  limestone  country.  This 
impressed  McDowell,  as  he  came  from 
a  country  where  limestone  was  abundant. 
He  saw  John  Bell  operate  for  stone  twice, 
and  in  both  instances  successfully.  Mc- 
Dowell saw  much  while  in  Edinburgh 
that  was  of  great  interest  and  help  to 
him  in  after  life,  as  the  clinics  were  the 
largest  of  any  university  abroad,  and  the 
faculty  was  composed  of  men  of  great 
reputation.      Such    were    the    conditions 


Kentucky^ s  Pioneer  Lithotomists      27 

under  which  McDowell  pursued  and  com- 
pleted  his    medical   education. 

It  might  be  added  that  keeping  Mc- 
Dowell abroad  worked  quite  a  hardship 
on  his  father,  who  was  a  man  in  moderate 
circumstances,  and  in  letters  written 
McDowell  by  his  father  he  was  always 
admonished  to  make  the  best  of  what 
money   he   sent   him. 


Chapter  III 


McDowell  returns  from  Edinburgh  and  begins 
Practice  in  Danville,  Kentucky 


CHAPTER  III 

MCDOWELL      RETURNS      FROM      EDINBURGH 
AND    BEGINS    PRACTICE    IN    DAN- 
VILLE,     KENTUCKY 

A  FTER  a  long  and  rough  voyage,  Mc- 
^  ^  Dowell  finally  landed  in  this  country 
and  went  direct  to  Danville,  Kentucky, 
to  begin  the  practice  of  medicine  in  1795. 
Coming  as  he  did  at  that  time  from  one 
of  the  foremost  schools  of  medicine  in 
the  world  to  a  place  like  Danville,  where 
few  practitioners  could  boast  of  attend- 
ing the  best  schools  in  this  country,  to 
say  nothing  of  going  abroad  to  study,  at 
once  placed  McDowell  in  the  front  rank 
of  his  profession  in  the  community  in 
which  he  lived,  not  uninterfered  with, 
however,  by  envy  and  jealousy.  His 
reputation  rapidly  spread  throughout  the 
South  and  West,  and  it  was  only  a  short 
time  before  he  was  acknowledged  to  be 
the  best  surgeon  west  of  Philadelphia. 


32      Kentucky^ s  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

McDowell  read  all  the  current  medical 
literature  and  bought  new  books,  which 
he  frequently  consulted.  He  possessed 
a  good  library  for  the  time  and  spare  mo- 
ments usually  found  him  reading.  He 
never  would  operate  on  any  case,  how- 
ever trivial,  without  consulting  the  best 
surgical  thought.  It  cannot  be  claimed 
for  him  that  he  was  a  highly  educated 
man.  He  possessed,  however,  a  good 
share  of  common  sense,  was  a  man  of 
keen  perceptions,  had  an  inquiring  mind, 
a  retentive  memory,  and  exercised  judg- 
ment in   everything  that  he  undertook. 

He  was  a  man  of  pleasing  manners, 
especially  so  in  the  sickroom,  quiet,  gen- 
tle and  unassuming,  never  forcing  his 
opinions  on  others,  as  is  sometimes  the 
case  with  men  who  occupy  positions  of 
like    character    and    dignity. 

He  had  strong  convictions,  and  when 
he  felt  he  was  right  nothing  could  shake 
him,  although  willing  to  be  convinced  of 
error.  It  is  said  of  him  that  when  called 
into  consultation,  he  acted  with  the  ut- 
most fairness  to  the  physician,  the  pa- 
tient or  his  friends,  never  losing  sight  of 


Kentucky^ s  Pioneer  Lithotomists      33 

the  fact  that  the  patient  had  certain 
rights;  that  is,  that  the  patient  should 
know  his   true   condition  when  possible. 

He  abhorred  deception  and  would 
promptly  refuse  to  meet  a  doctor  in  con- 
sultation who  was  known  to  practice  in 
an  unprofessional  way.  Above  all  else, 
he  despised  quacks  and  charlatans,  and 
under  no  circumstances  would  he  meet 
them. 

He  had  enemies  among  some  of  the 
best  professional  men,  not  because  of 
any  unprofessional  act  of  his,  but  because 
of  the  jealousy  that  is  apt  to  sprout  in 
the  heart  of  frail  humanity. 

Animosity,  happily,  grew  less  as  time 
went  on,  and  his  true  worth  became 
known.  He  made  friends  and  held  them 
to  him.  He  had  the  happy  faculty,  so 
necessary  in  the  medical  profession,  of 
remembering  names  and  faces.  For  in- 
stance, a  lady  came  to  Danville  to  con- 
sult him  regarding  herself.  When  she 
visited  the  doctor,  he,  without  hesita- 
tion, called  her  by  name  and  asked  about 
the  health  of  her  sister,  upon  whom  he 
had  operated  a  number  of  years  previous. 


34      Kentucky^ s  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

He  was  a  man  of  exemplary  habits, 
and  was  never  known  to  use  profane  lan- 
guage or  to  indulge  in  coarse  or  vulgar 
stories.  He  did  nOt  use  tobacco  and 
often  said  he  could  not  conceive  how 
any  person  could  chew  the  weed.  He 
would  occasionally  take  a  small  glass  of 
cherry  bounce  or  whisky  after  he  had 
experienced  any  unusual  exposure.  He 
was,  however,  very  temperate  in  all 
things,  even  in  eating,  in  which  so  many 
overindulge. 

By  this  time  McDowell  had  acquired 
a  wide  reputation  as  a  surgeon  and  felt 
the  need  of  a  helpmeet.  He  was  intro- 
duced to  Miss  Shelby,  a  daughter  of 
Governor  Shelby,  a  charming  and  highly 
educated  young  woman.  Their  friend- 
ship finally  developed  into  true  love, 
and  in  1802  they  were  married  at  the 
home  of  the  bride's  parents,  a  few  miles 
from  Danville,  Kentucky. 

McDowell's  people  were  strict  Pres- 
byterians, and  why,  with  such  influence, 
he  did  not  affiliate  with  them  is  not 
known.  While  he  was  religiously  in- 
clined, he  did  not  become  a  member  of 


Kentucky'' s  Pioneer  Lithotomists  ■    35 

any  church  until  after  his  marriage  to 
Miss  Shelby.  Her  influence  over  him 
was  great,  and  shortly  after  their  union 
he  joined  the  Episcopal  Church,  of  which 
his  wife  was  a  devout  member.  There- 
after he  took  a  great  interest  in  church 
affairs.  He  contributed  liberally  toward 
its  support,  as  is  attested  by  the  fact 
that  he  donated  the  grounds  upon  which 
the  Episcopal  Church  in  Danville  now 
stands. 

His  home  life  was  pleasant.  He  was 
a  devoted  husband  and  loving  father, 
and  notwithstanding  his  extensive  prac- 
tice, which  often  called  him  a  hundred 
miles  or  more  from  home,  and  would 
cause  him  to  be  absent  for  days,  he  never 
lost  sight  of  the  family  circle.  Indeed, 
all  his  spare  time  was  spent  in  the  bosom 
of  his  family,  often  surrounded  by  loving 
and  admiring  friends. 

He  found  much  satisfaction  In  beauti- 
fying his  home,  and  would  watch  with 
interest  and  profit  the  development  of 
his  stock  and  the  cultivation  of  his  land. 
He  had  an  overseer  for  his  farm,  as  it 
was    impossible    for    him    to    devote    his 


36      Kentucky^ s  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

time  to  his  farm,  owing  to  his  large  prac- 
tice. He  owned  slaves,  as  did  every 
Southern  gentleman  at  that  time,  but  did 
not  traffic  in  them,  as  he  never  thought 
it  right  to  separate  families.  His  slaves 
were  devoted  to  him,  as  he  ministered 
to  their  wants,  never  forgetting  that  they 
were  human. 

McDowell  had  many  warm  friends  in 
Danville,  and  occupied  an  enviable  place 
in  the  community,  being  one  of  the  orig- 
inal incorporators  and  curators  of  Center 
College.  He  was  also  a  prominent  church- 
man, and,  in  fact,  co-operated  in  every 
movement  for  the  betterment  of  the 
community.  Still,  he  had  many  things 
to  annoy  him.  For  instance,  some  of  the 
negroes  were  afraid  of  him  and  would 
seldom  venture  out  after  dark  unless  it 
was  known  he  was  out  of  town.  They 
believed  he  possessed  some  supernatural 
power  and  would  cut  them  up  for  pas- 
time. This  was  instilled  into  them  by 
their  masters  who  did  not  like  him.  An- 
other story  that  irritated  him  was  that 
Mrs.  McDowell  had  been  poisoned  by  a 
medical    student   in   the    doctor's   office, 


Kentucky^ s  Pioneer  Lithotomists      37 

who  was  alleged  to  be  none  other  than 
a  young  woman  dressed  in  man's  cloth- 
ing. This  story  was  accepted  by  some 
of  the  credulous,  and  not  until  after  the 
student  had  married  and  become  a  father 
would  they  believe  otherwise.  Most 
eminent  men  have  to  endure  the  tattle 
of  a  small  town. 

McDowell  was  considered  by  all  com- 
petent judges  to  be  the  most  expert  man 
with  the  scalpel  in  the  whole  South  and 
West  in  his  day.  He  performed  many 
difficult  operations  with  success.  He  had 
already  gained  a  great  reputation  by  the 
time  he  performed  the  operation  of 
Ovariotomy  on  Mrs.  Crawford,  and  while 
this  brought  him  into  the  limelight,  it 
also  provoked  adverse  criticism.  In- 
deed, the  fact  that  he  really  did  perform 
the  first  Ovariotomy  was  not  settled 
until  some  years  afterward.  He  exer- 
cised good  judgment,  and  never  per- 
formed any  operation,  however  trivial, 
without  consulting  the  best  authorities, 
rehearsing  each  step  in  the  operation 
with  his  assistants.  He  usually  had  two 
or  three  students  whom  he  required  to 


38      Kentucky'' s  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

give  a  succinct  account  of  the  anatomy 
of  the  parts  involved  in  the  operation 
as  well  as  the  technic  as  practiced  in  that 
day. 

Aside  from  his  reputation  as  an  Ovari- 
otomist,  he  also  was  widely  known  as  a 
Lithotomist,  and  probably  had  the  best 
record  of  any  man  at  that  time  practic- 
ing Lithotomy.  He  performed  twenty- 
eight  operations  for  Lithotomy  without 
a  single  death.  This  record  was  probably 
not  equalled  by  any  of  his  contempora- 
ries and  by  few  even  at  the  present  day. 
All  these  operations  he  performed  for 
stone  in  the  bladder  up  to  1828,  and 
among  this  number  was  one  patient  who 
afterward  became  prominent.  This  was 
President  James  K.  Polk,  who  came  to 
Danville,  Kentucky,  in  181 2,  and  placed 
himself  under  McDowell.  Polk  was  sev- 
enteen years  old  and  after  undergoing 
the  operation  known  as  Lateral  Lith- 
otomy, he  returned  home  entirely  re- 
stored to  health.  He  had  suffered  from 
stone  in  the  bladder  since  he  was  eleven 
years  old,  and  upon  arriving  in  Danville 
he  weighed,  it  is  said,  eighty-five  pounds. 


Kentucky'' s  Pioneer  Lithotomists      39 

So  great  had  been  his  suffering  and  so 
much  was  he  impaired  in  health,  that 
McDowell  kept  him  for  some  time  before 
operating,  preparing  him  for  the  ordeal. 
This  was  his  practice  in  every  case. 

Polk  wrote  McDowell  a  letter  dated 
from  Maury  County,  West  Tennessee, 
December  3,  18 12,  in  which  he  informed 
McDowell  of  the  progress  of  his  cure  and 
feelingly  expressed  his  gratitude  for  the 
services  which  he  had  received  at  the 
noted  surgeon's  hands.  The  bad  or- 
thography and  worse  grammar  contained 
in  this  letter  constitute  a  strong  contrast 
to  the  contents  of  one  which  he  wrote  to 
McDowell  fourteen  years  later  when  he 
represented  Tennessee  in  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States.  The  second  was 
written  with  accuracy  and  even  eloquence. 

McDowell  had  met  Polk  before,  for 
when  he  was  five  years  old  McDowell, 
cured  him  of  a  hernia — we  are  not  told 
by  what  method,  but  probably  by  pres- 
sure, which  was  extensively  practiced  in 
those  days.  The  instruments  that  Mc- 
Dowell used  in  his  operation  on  Polk  are 
shown  on   page  41,   and  were  given  by 


40      Kentucky^ s  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

McDowell  to  Dr.  B.  W.  Dudley,  of  Lex- 
ington, Kentucky,  and  Dudley  later  gave 
them  to  his  partner,  Dr.  Jas.  M.  Bush, 
in  whose  family  they  have  been  since  Dr. 
Bush's  death,  until  Miss  Nannie  M. 
Bush  presented  them  to  the  author, 
along  with  many  other  treasures  belong- 
ing to  Drs.  Dudley  and  Bush. 

It  may  be  said  of  Ephraim  McDowell 
that  he  was  certainly  "a  man  among 
men."  He  was  a  man  who  used  his  tal- 
ents to  the  best  possible  advantage  and 
accomplished  much  thereby.  When  we 
stop  to  think  of  the  time  in  which  he 
lived,  the  meager  opportunities  for  inter- 
course with  other  physicians,  the  poor 
facilities  for  travel,  the  crude  ideas  they 
had  of  certain  diseases,  the  unsettled 
state  of  many  things  that  pertained  to 
medicine,  and  above  all,  the  fact  that 
anaesthesia  was  not  known,  it  is  difficult 
to  comprehend  the  depth  of  his  native 
genius. 

It  has  been  declared  that  were  it  pos- 
sible for  such  men  as  McDowell  and  his 
contemporaries  to  come  back,  they  would 
not  know  how  to  conduct  themselves  in 


Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists      41 


Lithotomy   Instruments  which  McDowell   used  when 
he  operated   on   President  James   K.   Polk 


Kentucky'' s  Pioneer  Lithotomists      43 

a  modern  hospital.  This  is  not  a  tenable 
view  from  the  fact  that  they  accom- 
plished so  much  with  so  little  outside 
help;  for  it  must  be  remembered  there 
were  no  research  laboratories  or  other 
sources  of  help  such  as  we  now  enjoy, 
and  it  is  not  possible  to  conceive  what 
they  might  have  accomplished  had  they 
been  more  fortunately  situated.  Too 
much  credit  cannot  be  given  such  men, 
as  it  is  largely  through  their  pioneer  ef- 
forts that  many  of  the  sound  surgical 
principles  practiced  at  the  present  day 
have    been    evolved. 

The  later  years  of  McDowell's  life 
were  spent  on  a  beautiful  farm  which  he 
purchased  near  Danville,  Kentucky.  He 
died  on  June  20,  1830,  after  a  brief  ill- 
ness, of  what  the  attending  physicians 
diagnosed  as  acute  inflammation  of  the 
stomach.  He  died  surrounded  by  his 
devoted  wife  and  family.  His  death 
occurred  toward  the  close  of  the  eve- 
ning, and  it  was  one  of  the  most  heavenly 
of  all  midsummer  twilights.  Fanned  as 
it  were  by  the  zephyr  breezes,  the  spirit 
of  this  great  and  good  man  passed  from 
his  earthly  possessions. 


44      Kentucky'' s  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

When  the  great  surgeon  had  passed 
away,  the  medical  profession  of  this 
country  had  sustained  a  great  loss,  and 
many  a  sigh  was  heaved  when  the  sad 
thought  came  that  it  would  be  a  long 
time  before  his  mantle  would  find  worthy 
shoulders.  He  has  been  followed  by 
many  Lithotomists  and  Gynecologists 
whose  work  has  added  luster  and  fame 
to  American  surgery;  but  it  is  doubtful 
if  the  names  of  any  of  them  will  last 
longer  than  that  of  this  kindly  western 
surgeon,  who  chose  for  his  life's  work  a 
place  far  removed  from  the  populous 
centers  of  surgical  thought.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  the  time  will  never  come 
when  the  name  of  such  a  benefactor  will 
be  buried  in  oblivion. 

The  illustration  on  page  45  shows  Mc- 
Dowell's home  and  office  in  Danville, 
Kentucky,  where  he  first  began  practice.- 
The  house  is  still  standing,  though  in 
rather  a  dilapidated  condition.  To  the 
right  will  be  seen  a  small  one-story  build- 
ing. This  was  his  office,  and  it  was  in 
this  office,  in  the  front  room,  where  he 
performed  most  of  his  Lithotomies   and 


Kentucky's  Pio7ieer  Lithotomists      45 


> 


O 

C 

a 

c 
-a 


Pi 


o 


Monument  erected  to  Dr.  Ephraim  McDowell  by  the 
Kentucky  State  Medical  Society 


Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists      49 

where  he  operated  on  James  K.  Polk, 
who  afterward  became  President  of  the 
United  States.  It  was  also  in  this  same 
room  where  he  operated  on  Mrs.  Craw- 
ford for  Ovariotomy  for  the  first  time  in 
the  history  of  the  world. 

The  idea  of  erecting  a  monument  to 
McDowell  for  his  many  achievements  as 
a  surgeon  originated  with  the  late  Dr. 
John  D.  Jackson,  also  of  Danville,  Ken- 
tucky. Dr.  Jackson  brought  this  to  the 
attention  of  the  American  Medical  So- 
ciety and  also  before  the  Kentucky  State 
Medical  Association.  Dr.  Jackson  died, 
however,  some  time  afterward,  but  funds 
were  raised  throughout  the  country,  and 
at  the  dedication  many  notable  men  occu- 
pied seats  on  the  platform,  such  as  Drs. 
Samuel  D.  Gross,  Whittaker,  Seely, 
Ayres,  Stevens,  Lewis  A.  Sayre  and  V.  P. 
Gibney,  besides  members  of  the  Ken- 
tucky State  Medical  Society,  the  Gov- 
ernor of  the  State  and  others  notable  in 
their  respective  vocations. 

The  dedication  of  the  monument  took 
place  on  May  4,  1879,  in  Danville,  Ken- 
tucky.     The   monument   is    a   tall   shaft 


50      Kentucky^ s  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

of  Virginia  granite.  A  bronze  medallion 
of  McDowell  adorns  one  side  and  be- 
neath the  medallion  is  his  monogram 
with  the  words,  "Honor  to  whom  honor 
is  due."  On  the  front  is  inscribed,  "A 
grateful  profession  reveres  his  memory 
and  treasures  his  example,"  and  on  the 
opposite  side  are  the  words,  "Erected 
by  the  Kentucky  State  Medical  Society, 
1879."  On  the  western  face  is  inscribed 
his  place  and  date  of  birth  and  the  date 
of  his  settlement  in  Danville,  Kentucky. 
The  monument  is  located  near  the  center 
of  the  city  in  a  small  park. 

At  the  dedication  of  this  monument 
the  late  Dr.  Samuel  D.  Gross  delivered 
an  eloquent  address.  The  late  Dr.  Cowl- 
ing presented  Dr.  Gross*with  the  "door- 
knocker" from  McDowell's  front  door. 
Gross  responded  in  a  most  touching  man- 
ner, saying  he  would  ever  keep  sacred 
the  memento  presented  to  him  on  this 
memorable  occasion,  that  it  would  be 
placed  under  lock  and  key  with  other 
valuables  which  he  prized,  that  it  should 
always  remain  in  his  family,  and  would 
ever  be  dear  to  him,  as  around  it  clustered 


Kentucky^ s  Pioneer  Lithotomists      5 1 

so   much   medical   history   of   an   almost 
forgotten  past. 

In  bidding  farewell  to  this  valiant, 
kindly  healer  of  men,  it  will  not  harm 
us  to  glance  at  the  simple  picture  of  Hope 
thrown  upon  the  screen  by  Byron : 

"White  as  a  white  sail  on  a  dusky  sea, 
When  half  the  horizon's  clouded  and  half  free, 
Fluttering  between  the  dun  wave  and  the  sky, 
Is  hope's  last  gleam  in  man's  extremity." 


Chapter  I 

Dr.  Benjamin  Winslow  Dudley 


CHAPTER  I 

DR.    BENJAMIN   WINSLOW  DUDLEY 

'VjO  man  ever  lived,  however  great  his 
-^  ^  achievements,  whose  place  could  not 
be  filled.  With  the  passing  of  McDowell 
from  the  surgical  world  there  was  re- 
moved a  man  who  stood  in  a  class  by 
himself,  and  it  was  many  years  before 
the  gap  in  the  surgical  ranks  was  filled; 
but  it  was  filled,  and  by  a  man  who  per- 
formed many  wonderful  feats  for  his 
time.  This  man  was  none  other  than 
Dr.  Benjamin  Winslow  Dudley. 

Dr.  Dudley  was  born  in  Spottsylvania 
County,  Virginia,  April  12,  1785,  and  like 
McDowell  he  came  to  Kentucky  with 
his  father,  Ambrose  Dudley,  when  but 
a  little  over  one  year  of  age.  Dudley's 
people  in  Virginia  were  held  in  high  es- 
teem, and  his  father  was  widely  known 
as  a  Baptist  minister,  logical  and  elo- 
quent. 


56      Kentucky^ s  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

Dudley's  parents  settled  to  the  east 
of  Lexington,  Kentucky,  on  May  3,  1786, 
after  their  arrival  from  Virginia.  They 
moved  into  Lexington  in  1797,  when 
young  Dudley  worked  in  a  store  owned 
by  Samuel  and  George  Trotter. 

Dudley  also  went  to  a  school  such  as 
one  might  expect  among  pioneers,  and 
early  in  life  became  interested  in  thera- 
peutics and  the  cognate  branches  of  sci- 
ence. Thereafter  he  was  placed  under 
the  tutelage  of  Dr.  Frederick  Ridgley, 
who  was  at  that  time  a  well-known  physi- 
cian in  the  West.  Dr.  Ridgley  practiced 
physic  in  Lexington,  Kentucky,  and  after 
taking  young  Dudley  into  his  office  to 
study  medicine  he  gave  him  every  ad- 
vantage, being  always  careful  to  explain 
and  make  clear  the  problems  that  the 
ambitious  youth  did  not  readily  com- 
prehend. Dr.  Ridgley  was  himself  a 
well  educated  man,  and  it  can  be  readily 
seen  that  under  such  a  man  Dudley  ac- 
quired considerable  knowledge  of  medi- 
cine before  entering  a  Medical  College. 
It  is  not  known  how  long  he  read  medi- 
cine before  he  entered  college,  as  it  was 


Dr.  Benjamin  Winslow  Dudlev 


Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists      59 

the  custom  then,  as  in  later  years,  for  a 
boy  to  place  himself  under  a  private 
preceptor. 

Not  much  is  known  of  the  boyhood 
days  of  Dudley;  indeed,  it  may  be  said 
that  he  had  none,  as  he  entered  upon 
the  study  of  medicine  at  an  unusually 
early  age,  and  applied  himself  so  closely 
to  his  studies  that  he  had  little  time  for 
the  usual  sports  and  pastimes  indulged 
in  by  lads  of  his  age. 

Dudley  was  a  man  of  medium  stature, 
very  erect,  with  a  fair  complexion  and  a 
pleasing  voice,  his  face  being  marked  by 
lines  which  indicated  a  strong  character 
and  his  head  such  as  would  indicate  to  a 
phrenologist  an  influential  and  original 
mind.  At  all  times  he  was  exceedingly 
polite  and  was  in  the  habit  of  using  the 
broad  ''a"  in  his  pronunciation.  He  was 
a  man  of  intense  likes  and  dislikes.  He 
made  friends  slowly,  but  when  he  made 
a  friend  he  made  one  for  life.  He  treated 
his  enemies,  who  were  few,  with  a  cordial 
hatred.  He  despised  deception  and 
quackery  and  always  stood  for  what 
seemed  right  and  just  in  all  dealings  with 


6o     Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

his  fellow  man.  He  affiliated  with  no 
secret  orders  and  was  not  a  member  of 
any  church,  though  he  always  kept  a 
pew  and  attended,  when  possible,  the 
Episcopal  Church  in  Lexington.  Dr. 
Dudley,  in  1821,  fell  in  love  with  Miss 
Short,  a  daughter  of  Major  Peyton 
Short,  and  soon  they  were  married.  To 
them  were  born  three  children. 

There  are  times  when  the  pen  is 
mightier  than  the  sword  or  lancet,  and 
the  poet's  pen  is  usually  mightier  than 
the  surgeon's.  Let  Tennyson,  therefore, 
sum  up  this  domestic  idyl  as  he  does  in 
Lockley  Hall: 

"Love  took  up  the  harp  of  life  and  smote  on  all  the 
chords  with  might." 


Chapter  II 

Dudley  enters  the  Medical  College 


CHAPTER  II 

DR.  DUDLEY  ENTERS  THE  MEDICAL  COLLEGE 

A  FTER  receiving  what  information  he 
could  while  under  Dr.  Ridgley,  he 
entered  Transylvania  University,  and 
later  in  the  Autumn  of  1804,  he  went  to 
Philadelphia.  While  there  he  attended 
the  lectures  given  by  Rush,  Barton, 
Physic,  Shippen,  Woodhouse,  and  Wis- 
tar.  It  was  while  pursuing  his  studies  in 
Philadelphia  that  he  met  Daniel  Drake, 
John  Esten  Cooke,  and  William  H.  Rich- 
ardson, all  of  whom  were  subsequently 
his  colleagues  in  the  Medical  Depart- 
ment of  Transylvania  University. 

After  taking  one  course  of  lectures  in 
Philadelphia  he  returned  to  Lexington, 
Kentucky,  where  he  engaged  in  the  prac- 
tice of  medicine  with  Dr.  Fishback,  until 
it  was  time  for  him  to  resume  his  studies 
in  the  Fall.  He  returned  to  the  Medical 
'Department  of  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  after  completing  his  second 


64      Kentucky^ s  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

course  of  lectures  he  graduated  from  that 
institution  in  March,  1806,  just  two 
weeks  before  he  reached  the  age  of 
twenty-one. 

Upon  receiving  his  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Medicine  from  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania in  1806,  he  returned  to  his 
home  in  Lexington,  Kentucky,  to  begin 
the  practice  of  his  profession.  He  rented 
an  office,  consisting  of  one  room,  which 
was  scantily  furnished,  on  Mill  street, 
then  and  for  a  long  time  afterwards 
known  as  "Calomel  Row,"  at  the  corner 
of  Mill  and  Church  Streets.  Here  he 
continued  to  practice  for  a  few  years, 
until  he  felt  the  desire  to  go  abroad  that 
he  might  perfect  his  education. 

In  1 8 10  he  completed  his  plans  for  a 
trip  abroad  and  had  saved  some  money. 
He  purchased  a  flat-boat,  loaded  it  with 
produce,  and  floated  down  the  Ohio  Riyer 
to  the  Mississippi,  and  on  to  New  Or- 
leans, where  he  sold  his  boat  and  its 
cargo,  and  this  time  he  invested  in  a 
cargo  of  flour.  This  he  billed  to  Gibral- 
tar, which  he  reached  some  time  in  18 10: 
There  and  at  Lisbon  he  disposed  of  his 
cargo  at  a  large  advance. 


Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists      65 

The  opportunities  he  had  sought  were 
now  at  hand.  He  hastened  through 
Spain  and  France  to  Paris.  While  there 
he  heard  Baron  Larrey  recite  his  won- 
derful military  experiences.  He  made 
the  acquaintance  of  Caulaincourt,  ^^The 
Emperor's  trusted  Minister."  Through 
him  he  was  present  with  Talma  and  John 
Howard  Payne  in  the  Chamber  of  Depu- 
ties when  Napoleon  entered  the  build- 
ing at  the  close  of  his  disastrous  Russian 
campaign.  He  saw  the  Emp^rer  mount 
the  Tribune.  He  heard  him  begin  his 
report  with  the  portentous  words,  '^The 
Grand  Army  of  the  Empire  has  been 
annihilated." 

After  remaining  in  Paris  nearly  three 
years,  he  crossed  the  English  Channel 
to  observe  surgery  as  practiced  in  Lon- 
don. While  there  he  listened  to  Aber- 
nethy  as  he  dwelt  with  all  his  wonted 
enthusiasm  on  his  peculiar  doctrine.  He 
heard  him  reason  it,  he  saw  him  act  it, 
and  came  away  believing  him  to  be  the 
highest  authority  on  all  points  relating 
to  surgery.  He  witnessed  Sir  Astley 
Cooper    operate,    and    habitually    desig- 


66      Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

nated  him  as  the  most  skilled  and  grace- 
ful man  in  his  work  he  had  ever  beheld. 

After  spending  four  years  in  Paris  and 
London,  profiting  by  the  instructions  of 
Cooper,  Dupuytren,  Larrey,  Bayer,  Du- 
bois, Cline,  Abernethy,  Cuvier  and  others, 
and  serving  a  term  in  the  largest  hospital 
in  London,  he  was  honored  with  the  de- 
gree which  constituted  him  a  member  of 
the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons,  a  dis- 
tinction and  honor  enjoyed  by  compara- 
tively few  surgeons  in  America  at  that 
time. 

When  he  had  accomplished  the  pur- 
pose of  his  mission  abroad,  and  spent  six 
months  traveling  in  Italy  and  Switzer- 
land, his  pecuniary  resources  were  nearly 
exhausted.  He  had  in  the  course  of  his 
travels  abroad  collected  from  time  to 
time  many  rare  and  valuable  mineral 
specimens  which  he  prized  and  had  ex- 
pected to  bring  home  with  him,  along 
with  a  collection  of  books  and  instru- 
ments. These  he  had  in  the  Custom 
House  in  London  preparatory  to  his  sail- 
ing for  America;  but  before  he  started 
the  Custom  House  burned  and  he  lost 
everything. 


Chapter  III 


Dr.  Dudley  returns  to  Lexington,  Kentucky, 
and  resumes  his  Practice 


CHAPTER  III 

DOCTOR  DUDLEY  RETURNS  TO   LEXINGTON, 
KENTUCKY,  AND  RESUMES  HIS  PRACTICE 

TAUDLEY  returned  to  Lexington,  Ken- 
^^  tucky,  from  abroad  in  the  Summer 
of  1 8 14,  and  at  once  settled  down  to 
practice  his  profession.  His  manners 
were  those  of  a  Frenchman,  but  in  med- 
ical doctrine  and  practice  he  was  decid- 
edly English.  The  laity  were  quick  to 
detect  that  he  had  improved  his  time 
while  abroad,  and  it  was  but  a  very  short 
time  before  he  stood  in  the  front  rank  of 
his  profession,  his  opinion  being  much 
sought  and  highly  regarded  on  all  ques- 
tions pertaining  to  surgery. 

His  profession  had  become  the  en- 
grossing object  of  his  thought,  and  he 
applied  himself  to  it  with  undeviating 
fidelity.  He  made  himself  its  slave.  One 
of  his  most  intimate  friends  wrote  of 
him,  "He  had  no  holidays,  he  sought  no 


JO      Kentucky'' s  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

recreation,  and  no  sports  interested  him." 
His  thought,  he  had  been  heard  to  say, 
was  always  on  his  cases  and  not  on  the 
amusements  around  him. 

Upon  his  return  to  Lexington  he  found 
it  in  the  grasp  of  a  severe  epidemic  of 
typhoid  fever,  the  same  as  had  prevailed 
in  other  states.  This  disease  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  formation  of  abscesses  in 
the  muscles  of  the  body,  legs  and  arms, 
and  these  were  at  times  so  untractable 
that  amputation  was  deemed  necessary 
to  relieve  the  trouble.  Recalling  the  use 
he  had  seen  made  of  the  roller  bandage 
while  abroad,  in  the  treatment  of  diseases 
of  the  leg,  he  resolved  to  try  it  on  the 
first  abscess  case  that  presented.  He 
did  so,  and  his  results  were  so  astounding 
to  him  that  he  decided  to  give  it  an  ex- 
tended trial,  which  he  did  with  success. 
He  had  few  equals  at  bandaging,  and 
was  so  thoroughly  convinced  that  the 
bandage  had  a  distinct  place  in  the  treat- 
ment of  certain  diseases  that  he  regu- 
larly gave  lectures  to  the  students  in 
Transylvania  Medical  School  on  the  art 
of  bandaging  and  its  therapeutic  value. 


Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists      71 

The  tide  of  practice  had  by  this  time 
turned  toward  him.  He  demonstrated 
that  he  was  a  thorough  anatomist,  and 
his  reputation  soon  became  national. 

No  medical  school  had  been  founded 
west  of  the  Alleghenies,  and  the  need  of 
such  a  school  was  felt  on  every  hand. 
Transylvania  ,had  already  an  established 
reputation  and  only  needed  a  Medical 
Department  to  make  it  complete,  so  in 
1 817  the  Trustees  met  and  added  this 
to  the  University. 

Dr.  Dudley  w^as  made  its  head  and 
appointed  to  fill  the  chairs  of  Anatomy 
and  Surgery,  which  subjects  he  lectured 
on  with  credit  to  himself,  profit  to  the 
institution  and  interest  to  the  students, 
until  1844,  when  he  resigned  the  Chair  of 
Anatomy,  but  retained  that  of  Surgery 
until   1850. 

It  can  be  said  without  fear  of  contra- 
diction that  while  Transylvania  Medical 
School  had  many  very  learned  men  con- 
nected with  it,  the  name  of  Dudley  was 
the  one  that  gave  to  the  school  a  certain 
amount  of  prestige  which  the  others  did 
not.     He  was  instrumental  in  its  devel- 


72      Kentucky'^ s  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

opment  and  directed  its  policy.  The 
students  regarded  him  as  the  foremost 
man  in  the  faculty. 

That  he  had  colleagues  whose  mental 
endowments  were  superior  to  his,  he  him- 
self at  all  times  fully  admitted.  He  made 
no  pretension  to  oratory,  was  not  a  logi- 
cian, and  had  neither  humor  nor  wit;  and 
yet  he  had  the  power  to  enchain  the  stu- 
dents' attention  and  impress  them  with 
the  value  of  his  instruction  and  greatness 
as  a  teacher,  and  he  bore  off  the  palm 
from  all  the  gifted  men  who  taught  by 
his  side. 

He  was  always,  in  the  presence  of  his 
class,  not  only  a  model  teacher,  but  a 
dignified,  urbane  gentleman  ever  ap- 
proachable, but  at  once  repelling  any 
attempt  at  familiarity,  and  never  for  the 
sake  of  causing  a  laugh  would  he  indulge 
in  coarse  or  vulgar  stories. 

Dudley's  hold  on  the  public  was  as 
great  as  on  the  classes,  for  people  came 
to  him  from  all  over  this  and  the  mother 
country  to  consult  him,  because  they 
thought  that  he  did  certain  things  better 
than  anyone  else,  and  some  things  that 
others  could  not  attempt. 


Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists      73 

Dr.  Dudley  was  connected  with  Tran- 
sylvania Medical  College  from  its  incep- 
tion to  its  end.  When  he  resigned  in 
1850,  he  was  made  Professor  Emeritus. 
During  his  connection  with  the  College 
he  lectured  to  six  thousand  four  hundred 
and  fifty-six  students.  Of  this  number 
there  were  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  eighty-one  graduated  from  Transyl- 
vania to  go  forth  to  practice  the  art  of 
healing. 

While  Professor  of  Anatomy  and  Sur- 
gery in  1 81 8,  there  arose  a  misunder- 
standing between  himself  and  Dr.  Daniel 
Drake  over  a  postmortem  examination 
of  an  Irishman,  who  had  been  shot  dur- 
ing a  fight.  Sharp  pamphlets  passed  be- 
tween them,  which  resulted  in  Dudley's 
challenging  Drake  to  fight  a  duel.  De- 
clined by  Drake,  the  challenge  was  ac- 
cepted by  his  next  best  friend,  Dr.  Wm. 
H.  Richardson,  who  was  also  connected 
with  the  Medical  College,  occupying  the 
chair  of  Obstetrics.  The  duel  resulted 
in  Dudley's  shooting  Richardson  in  the 
groin.  Richardson  would  have  bled  to 
death  had  it  not  been  for  Dudley's  ac- 


74      Kentucky^ s  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

curate  knowledge  of  anatomy.  Dudley 
asked  permission  to  check  the  bleeding, 
which  he  did  by  pressure  of  his  thumb 
until  the  vessel  could  be  tied,  thus  saving 
Richardson's  life  and  making  him  a  life- 
long friend. 

He  wrote  but  very  little,  and  this  was 
at  the  urgent  request  of  his  colleagues 
and  for  the  Transylvania  Journal  of 
Medicine,  a  quarterly  which  first  ap- 
peared in  Lexington,  Kentucky,  Febru- 
ary, 1828.  In  the  first  Volume  of  the 
Journal  may  be  found  Dudley's  first 
paper,  a  most  remarkable  article  on  ,the 
cause  and  treatment  of  epilepsy. 

He  believed  it  was  caused  by  pressure 
due  to  fracture  and  demonstrated  that  it 
could  be  cured  by  trephining.  He  op- 
erated on  five  successive  cases,  which 
resulted  in  perfect  cures.  He  was  one  of 
the  first,  if  not  the  first,  to  use  the  trephine 
for  this  trouble. 

In  the  same  paper  he  also  suggested 
that  Fungus  Cerebri  could  be  cured  by 
means  of  dried  sponge  compresses,  and 
is  said  to  have  cured  an  aggravated  case 
by  this  method  in  five  days. 


Kentucky's  Pioneer  Litho^omists      75 

In  the  second  monograph,  pubhshed 
in  the  same  journal,  he  gives  an  account 
of  an  original  and  successful  operation 
for  Hydrocele.  One  of  his  dissertations 
gives  a  very  lengthy  account  of  the  uses 
of  the  roller  bandage  in  gun-shot  wounds, 
fractures,  etc.  He  wrote  still  another 
article  on  the  roller  bandage  and  its  uses 
in  ulcers,  contusions,  laceration,  and  ef- 
fusions. One  of  the  ablest  and  most 
interesting  contributions  he  ever  wrote 
was  on  ^'Calculus  Disease." 

These  subjects  are  all  that  we  have  any 
account  of  his  writing  upon,  and  why  he 
did  not  leave  a  record  of  his  extensive 
and  valuable  work  can  only  be  explained 
•by  the  fact  that  his  elementary  education 
was  deficient,  and  he  was  not  ready  with 
his  pen.  Besides,  he  had  a  very  large 
practice,  which  occupied  most  of  his 
time. 

Few  men  in  his  day  devoted  themselves 
to  any  particular  branch  of  medicine, 
but  Dudley  tried  as  far  as  possible  to  do 
surgery,  and  always  let  it  be  known  that 
he  preferred  surgical  cases  to  all  others. 
He  was  in  the  front  rank,  and  in  fact  he 


76      Kentucky^ s  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

was  in  advance  of  his  time.  He  was  one 
of  the  first  to  condemn  blood-letting  and 
considered  each  blood-letting  to  cut  short 
the  patient's  life  one  year. 

He  admired  Abernethy  more  than  any 
other  of  his  foreign  teachers,  and  his 
opinions  naturally  took  color  from  this 
eccentric  Englishman.  Like  him,  he  be- 
lieved in  the  constitutional  origin  of 
local  diseases,  but  his  practice  was  some- 
what different.  Like  Abernethy,  he  gave 
his  patients  blue  pills  at  night,  but  he 
omitted  the  black  draught  in  the  morn- 
ing. He  thought  an  emetic  was  better 
and  for  this  purpose  gave  tartarized 
antimony.  Between  the  puke  and  the 
purge  he  restricted  their  diet  to  stale 
bread,  skimmed  milk  and  water  gruel. 
This  was  his  usual  preliminary  treatment 
before  any  operation,  and  post  operative 
it  was  repeated  several  times. 

While  he  did  not  care  so  much  for 
medical  cases,  nevertheless  he  enjoyed 
an  enviable  reputation  as  a  physician, 
though  as  we  see  things  today,  this 
would  not  perhaps  be  saying  much.  He 
improved   upon   the   barbaric   treatment 


Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists      77 


a- 


-a 


^3 


o 

CJ 
CO 

O 
u 
o 


C3 


Kentucky^ s  Pioneer  Lithotomists      79 

of  disease  then  in  universal  favor.  He 
wholly  discarded  one  of  the  most  ef- 
fective means  by  which  doctors  succeeded 
in  shortening  patients'  lives.  This  was 
just  before  those  biological  dawnings 
which  were  soon  to  break  into  the  full 
light  of  physiological  medicine  and  the 
rational  system  of  therapeutics  based 
thereon. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  as  a  watcher 
in  that  night  of  therapeutic  darkness, 
when  doings  of  the  best  strike  us  with 
horror,  his  prophetic  eye  may  have 
caught  a  glimpse  of  the  coming  day, 
which  in  old  age  was  given  him  to  be- 
hold. Though  engaged  chiefly  with  prob- 
lems that  pertained  to  surgery,  he  de- 
serves a  high  place  in  the  list  of  thera- 
peutic reformers. 

Much  of  the  reputation  acquired  for 
Kentucky  by  her  surgeons  was  in  the 
treatment  for  "stone  in  the  bladder." 
At  that  time  Kentucky  furnished  more 
cases  than  all  the  rest  of  the  states  put 
together.  Dudley  stood  at  the  top,  the 
confessed  Lithotomist  of  the  world  in 
his    generation.      He    operated    on    225 


8o      Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

cases  for  stone,  losing  only  three  out  of 
this  number — a  most  remarkable  record 
even  at  the  present  day  with  anaesthesia, 
improved  technic  and  well-equipped  hos- 
pitals, which  he  did  not  have.  He  per- 
formed one  hundred  consecutive  opera- 
tions for  stone  without  a  death. 

The  late  Dr.  Lewis  A.  Sayre,  of  New 
York,  once  expressed  a  desire  to  see  some 
of  Dudley's  work,  so  he  communicated 
with  his  friend,  the  late  Dr.  W.  W.  Daw- 
son, of  Cincinnati.  Dawson  made  Sayre's 
wants  known  to  Dudley,  who  extended 
an  invitation  to  him.  Sayre  came  to 
Lexington  in  company  with  Dawson, 
and  Dudley  had  saved  three  cases  of 
"stone  in  the  bladder"  for  operation. 
The  patients  were  brought  strapped  to 
a  table,  without  anaesthesia.  Dr.  Dud- 
ley operated  on  the  three  cases,  remov- 
ing three  large  stones  in  such  quick  time 
that  Sayre  said  had  he  turned  his  head 
to  the  right  or  left  he  would  have  missed 
the  whole  operation,  so  dexterous  and 
skillful  was  Dudley  with  the  gorget  and 
forceps. 

He  used  the  gorget  in  all  operations 


^^^^^S^' '  ■  ■^■'"•tg*** 


' '  "^tiw  w^i  ■  I ..» ■  I  "aiftiJiMaij^j^MMwaww 


3        ' 


=*^-=4c:f    %- 


.>  4 


aMf-atml^-T-TmOT-  ■  -^..^l^^^y:^,. i.^,    ,,  ,^  ...  ^    . 


:l==t7 


Instruments  used  by  Dr.  Dudley 


1.  Silver  Catheter. 

2.  Retractor. 

3 .  Urethrotome, 

4.  Calculus  Extractor,  where  cal- 

culus becomes   lodged   in 
urethra. 


Calculus  Extractor — Used  in  ex- 
tracting fragments  of  stone 
from  the  bladder. 

Caustic  applicator. 

Flexible  silver  catheter. 

Urethral  dilator. 


Kentucky' s  Pioneer  Lithotomists      83 


T 


/^ 


■^ji^titf'tnw^ntj'^^ 


IZ" 


Instruments  used  by  Dr.  Dudley 

1-6.     Forceps  used  in  extracting  calculi  from  the  bladder. 
7.     Tenaculum  forceps. 


Kentucky'' s  Pioneer  Lithotomists      85 

for  stone,  and  preferred  the  instrument 
invented  by  JVIcCline,  of  London.  He 
always  performed  lateral  lithotomy. 
Never  would  he  use  the  lithotrite,  always 
maintaining  that  litho|^paxy  was  not  a 
safe  operation. 

It  is  related  that  when  one  of  his  pa- 
tients was  placed  on  the  table  for  an 
operation  for  stone  he  at  once  saw  that 
he  could  not  do  his  usual  lateral  opera- 
tion on  account  of  a  deformed  pelvis, 
and  while  his  assistants  were  taking  their 
positions  he  resolved  to  make  the  ex- 
ternal incision  transverse,  which  he  did 
before  any  one  of  his  assistants  had  no- 
ticed the  deformity.  Through  this  inci- 
sion he  removed  a  stone  three  and  one- 
half  inches  in  its  long  diameter,  two  and 
a  half  in  its  short  diameter,  and  eleven 
inches  in  circumference.  The  patient 
entirely  recovered  and  returned  to  his 
home  in  Eastern  Kentucky. 

Dr.  Dudley  was  noted  for  his  kind 
attention  to  the  poor  who  applied  to  him 
for  relief  from  their  troubles.  He  never 
charged  a  poor  person,  but  made  the 
"well-to-do"  and  rich  pay  him  well  for 


A 


86      Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

the  service  rendered.  He  had  a  proper 
sense  of  the  value  of  his  professional 
services.  Once  he  was  called  to  a  village 
near  Lexington  to  a  patient  in  labor,  who 
was  the  wife  of  a  man  made  rich  by 
marriage.  At  that  time  most  of  the  one- 
hundred-dollar  notes  in  circulation  in 
Kentucky  were  issued  by  the  Northern 
Bank  of  Kentucky  at  Lexington.  On  the 
reverse  side  of  the  bill  was  the  letter  ^'C" 
in  Roman  capital.  This  letter  was  so 
large  and  round  that  it  looked  like  a  bull's 
eye,  and  in  local  slang  it  was  so  called. 
The  visit  over  and  the  doctor  ready  to 
leave  the  house,  the  young  father  handed 
one  of  these  bills  to  him.  Eyeing  it 
closely  for  a  moment,  Dr.  Dudley  said, 
"Another  bull's  eye,  if  you  please." 

The  stones  whose  photographs  are  on 
pages  87  to  95  were,  with  two  excep- 
tions, removed  by  Dr.  Dudley  from 
patients  from  all  parts  of  the  country. 
The  two  cases  in  this  series  not  operated 
on  by  him  were  operated  on  by  his  part- 
ner, Dr.  Jas.  M.  Bush. 

These  specimens  were  presented  to  the 
author  by  Miss  Nannie  Bush,  a  daughter 


Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists      87 


Stones  removed  by  Dr.  B.  W.  Dudley 

Each  stone  is  numbered  and  its  composition  is  written  on  the  cardboard 
holding  the  stones.  The  chemical  analysis  and  mountmg  was  done  by  Ur. 
Robert  Peter 


Kentucky'' s  Pioneer  Lithotomists      89 


^'f'4 


Stones  removed  by  Dr.  B.  W.  Dudley 


Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists      91 


STONES  REMOVED  FROM  THE  BLADDER  BY  DRS.   B.  W. 
DUDLEY  AND  J.  M.  BUSH. 


Nos 
No. 
No. 
No. 
No. 
No. 


No.  10. 


From  boy  i8  years,  Nicholas  County,  Ken- 
From  Mr.  Taylor,  Licking  region.  Ken- 


No. 

II. 

No. 

12. 

No. 

13- 

No. 

14- 

No. 

IS- 

No. 

16. 

No. 

17- 

No. 

18. 

No. 

19. 

No. 

20. 

No.  21. 


No.  22 


No. 
No. 
No. 
No. 
No. 
No. 
No. 

No. 

Nos, 

No. 

Nos, 

No. 
No. 


and  4.     Urate  of  ammonium  and  phosphate  of  lime. 
Urate  of  ammonia.     Mr.   Tourman,    New   Albany,    Indiana. 
Urate  of  ammonia.     From  prostate  of  boy  from  Alabama. 
Urate  of  ammonia. 
Oxalate  of  lime. 
Urate  of  ammonium, 
tucky. 
Urate  of  ammonium. 

tucky.  ; 

Cystic  oxide. 

Cystic  oxide.     From  patient  from  mountains  of  Virginia. 
Oxalate  lime. 

Oxalate  lime  and  some  triple  phosphate. 
Oxalate  lime.     From  Merritt  Whit,   Knox  County,   Kentucky, 

November  5,   1847. 
Oxalate  lime. 
Urate  of  ammonia. 

Urate  of  ammonia.     Boy  from  Versailles,  Kentucky,  by  Dr.  Bush. 
L'rate  of  ammonia. 
Oxalate  of  lime.     Benjamin  Bryant,  Shelby  County,  Kentucky. 

October  21,   1849. 
Oxalate  of  lime.     Marcellus   McDanlel,    Scott   County,   October 
IS,  1849- 

(This  last  specimen  was  Dr.  Dudley's  i88th  operation.) 
Calculus  from  bladder  of  whale,  presented  by  Dr.  J.  Flint,  Louis- 
ville, Kentucky. 
Oxalate  of  lime. 
Oxalate  of  lime. 
Urate  of  ammonia. 
Urate  of  ammonia. 
Fusible  phosphate. 
Fusible  phosphate. 

Plaster  casts  of  stone  taken  from  patient.     Specimen  was  given 
to  patient. 

30  (a).     Plaster  casts  of  stone  taken  from  patient.     Specimen  was 

given  to  patient. 
30  (b)  and  31.    Urates  of  ammonium,  negro,  near  Louisville,   Ken- 
tucky, 1834. 

31  (b).     Urate  of  ammonia,  from  urethra,  young  man,  Harrison, -Ken- 

tucky, 1847. 
32  and  33.    Urate  of  ammonium.   From  Oscar  Hickle,  aged  82,  Athens, 

Tennessee,  April  2,  1847. 
34.     Urate  of  ammonium,  boy,Resor,  Warsaw,  Kentucky,  age  7  years. 
35-     Urate  of  ammonium. 


92      Kentucky'' s  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

Oxalate  lime. 

Phosphates,  negress,  who  died  of  typhoid. 

Phosphate  and  oxalate  lime.     Patient  from  Illinois. 

Carbonate  of  lime.     From  kidney  of  bullock.      Presented  by  Dr. 

L.  D.  Spragins,  Virginia. 
Oxalate  of  lime. 

Urate  of  ammonia.     Boy  from  Tennessee. 
Urate  of  ammonia.     Boy  4  years  old. 

and  73.     Uric  acid  and  urates  of  ammonia,  lime  and  soda.    These 
30  calculi  were  removed  by  Dr.  Dudley  from  the  same  patient. 
Phosphates.     From  hog's  bladder. 
Phosphates — Salivary  calculus — ^T.  M.  Ridge,  of  Missouri.     By 

Dr.  Bush. 
Quartz  and  fragments  of  glass  passed  by  a  negress. 
Uric  acid.     Mr.  Williamson,  1872,  Lincoln  County,  Kentucky. 
Uric  acid,  plus  urates  bf  ammonium,  passed  by  a  patient  from 

Marion  County,  Kentucky, 
Oxalate  of  lime  and  fusible  phosphates. 
80  and  81.    Urate  of  ammonium  surrounded  by  oxalate  of  lime. 

Triple  phosphate.     Nucleus  is  piece  of  decayed  bone.     Boy,  1820. 
Urate  of  ammonia.     Young  man  from  Lexington,  Missouri. 
Oxates  of  lime.     From  Mr.  Mott,  aged  15,  from  Mississippi. 
Oxates  of  lime.     From  young  man  from  Missouri. 
Carbonate  of  lime  and  magnesia.     Bladder  of  jackass. 
Oxate  of  lime.     Mr.  Moore,  Nicholas  County,  Kentucky. 
Glass  tube  containing  fragments  of  calculus.     From  Mr.  Mentelle. 
Uric  acid.    Amon  Brock,  age  60,  Clay  County,  Kentucky,  April 

27,  1848, 
Animal  matter.     Bladder  of  hog. 
Urate  of  ammonia. 
Urate  of  ammonia. 

Oxalate  of  lime.     Negro   man,  Williamson   County,  Tennessee, 
October  15,  1849. 
No.  94      Fatty  concretions.     Taken  from  parotid  gland  after  the  man  had 

been  dead  16  years  (removed  in  dissecting  room). 
No.   95.     Animal   matter  and   phosphates.     Negro   man.     By  Dr.   Bush. 
From  same  man  No.  31,  whom  Dr.  Dudley  had  operated  upon. 
No.  96.     Foreign  substance  nucleus,  plus  triple  phosphates.     Taken  from 

Mr.  Steel. 
No.  97.     Nucleus  a  bean.     Taken  from  same  patient  as  No.  28. 
No.  98.     Nucleus  oxalate  of  lime.     Franklin   Barclay,   Madison   County, 

December  4,  1848. 
No.  99.     Urate  of  ammonia.     After  death  from  patient  from  East  Tennessee. 

Weight,   ^  of  pound. 
No.  100.     Nucleus  triple  phosphate  of  ammonia  and  magnesium  and  lime. 
No.  loi.     Urate  of  ammonia.     Removed  by  lithotrity  by  Dr.  Bush  from 
Mr.  Hardy,  Mobile,  Alabama. 


No. 

36. 

No. 

37. 

No. 

38. 

No. 

39. 

No. 

40. 

No. 

41. 

No. 

42. 

Nos 

•  43 

No. 

74- 

No. 

75. 

No. 

je. 

No. 

77- 

No. 

78. 

No. 

79. 

Nos 

.  80 

No. 

82. 

No, 

83. 

No. 

84. 

No. 

8.5. 

No. 

86. 

No. 

87. 

No. 

88. 

No. 

89. 

No. 

90. 

No. 

91. 

No. 

92. 

No. 

93- 

Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomtsts      93 


1-.  *^  *•«.•.  J 


♦,t$itf^V  -*' 


-~ —  ■s»ji.'":i 


Stones  removed  by  Dr.  B.  W.  Dudley 


Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists      95 


.0,.."^-*-**t" 


Stones  removed  by  Dr.  B.  W.  Dudley 


Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists      97 

of  Dr.  Bush.  The  stones  were  in  the 
museum  of  Transylvania  Medical  Col- 
lege, where  they  remained  until  it  burned 
in  1863.  Dr.  Bush,  according  to  his 
daughter,  rushed  into  the  building  when 
it  was  in  flames,  and  against  the  protests 
of  his  friends,  rescued  these  lithic  tro- 
phies. 

According  to  Dr.  C.  C.  Graham,  who 
was  Dudley's  pupil  at  that  time,  he 
performed  his  first  operation  for  "stone 
in  the  bladder"  on  a  little  boy  in  Paris, 
Kentucky,  eighteen  miles  north  of  Lex- 
ington, early  in  1817.  The  second  opera- 
tion was  on  Mr.  S.  Owen,  of  Lexington, 
Kentucky,  on  November  19,  18 17.  The 
operation  on  Owen  was  the  first  operation 
for  stone  ever  performed  in  Lexington. 

When  Dudley  resigned  from  the  posi- 
tion of  Professor  of  Surgery  in  Tran- 
sylvania Medical  College,  he  retired  to 
his  beautiful  suburban  home,  now  known 
as  "Fairlawn,"  to  spend  the  rest  of  his 
days,  doing  only  such  practice  as  he 
chose  to  do.  "Fairlawn"  is  a  beautiful 
place,  with  its  large  and  commodious 
house,   surrounded  by  an  emerald  lawn 


98      Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

on  which  stand  large  spreading  oaks. 
One  can  well  picture  Dudley  enjoying 
his  well  earned  and  much  needed  rest. 
Dr.  Dudley  contributed  thousands  of 
dollars  to  public  improvement  and  to 
private  charities.  Although  he  never  kept 
accounts  against  his  patients,  he  amassed 
a  comfortable  fortune.  His  latter  days 
were  passed  in  the  society  of  his  children 
and  grandchildren,  surrounded  by  all  the 
comforts  which  a  large  estate  and  a 
devoted  family  could  provide. 

He  contracted  poison  some  years  pre- 
vious to  his  death,  while  operating,  and 
never  entirely  regained  his  health.  He 
died  suddenly  after  about  ten  hours'  ill- 
ness on  Thursday,  January  20,  1870,  of 
apoplexy. 

If  Martial  had  been  acquainted  with 
Dudley,  if  he  had  known  that  this  sur- 
geon possessed  many  of  the  choicest 
qualities  of  his  English  ancestry,  surely 
the  gifted  Roman  would  have  penned 
for   him   this   epigram: 

"Sit  tibi  terra  levis,  mollique  tegarls  arena." 


>. 


Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists    loi 


The  last  Resting  Place  of  Dr.  B.  W.  Dudley 


Chapter  I 

James  Mills  Bush 


CIL\PTER  I 

JAJ^IES    MILLS    BUSH 

TT  was  Voltaire  who  casually  remarked, 
"Tous  les  genres  sont  bons,  hors  le 
genre  ennuyeux." 

This  is  good  sense;  so  in  order  to  avoid 
needless  dullness  the  reader  will  be  spared 
many  details  that  might  be  recorded  in 
a  biographical  sketch  of  one  of  Dixie- 
land's    exponents    of   lithotomic   science. 

James  Mills  Bush  was  the  third  and 
last  lithotomist  whom  Kentucky  pro- 
duced. He  was  born  at  Frankfort,  in 
Alay,  1808,  his  parents  calling  them- 
selves Philip  and  Eliza  Bush.  His  grand- 
parents, Philip  and  Alaria  Bush,  emi- 
grated from  the  city  of  Mannheim,  Baden, 
one  of  the  homes  of  Schiller,  to  Winches- 
ter, Mrginia,  about  1750.  Bush's  parents 
had  emigrated  to  Kentucky  and  settled 
at  Frankfort.  Of  several  children,  there 
are   only  two  whose   histor\"   is   known; 


io6    Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

Joseph  H.  Bush,  the  popular  artist,  and 
his  brother,  Jas.  A/[.  Bush,  the  subject  of 
this  sketch. 

Bush  was  first  educated  at  Danville, 
Kentucky,  where  he  graduated  from 
Center  College  in  1828,  and  afterward 
studied  medicine  and  surgery  with  the 
celebrated  Dr.  Alban  Goldsmith,  of  Louis- 
ville. As  a  mere  lad,  he  seems  to  have 
acquired  the  art  of  concentration  of 
thought,  which  was  so  helpful  to  him  in 
after  life.  He  graduated  at  the  head  of 
his  class  at  Center  College,  for  study  to 
him  was  not  so  laborious,  as  it  was  to 
his  fellow  students.  He  took  a  keen  in- 
terest in  all  the  literary  societies  while 
in  college.  He  was  fond  of  reading  and 
was  considered  the  best  informed  student 
in  Danville. 

Bush  was  a  man  of  most  courtly  man- 
ners, dignified  and  refined,  very  witty, 
and  enjoyed  a  good  clean  joke.  After 
his  graduation  from  Center  College  and 
after  reading  medicine  for  a  considerable 
time,  he  moved  to  Lexington  in  1830. 

He  was  a  most  exemplary  man.  He 
never  used  tobacco  in  any  form  or  intox- 


Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists    107 

Icants  of  any  kind.  He  was  exceedingly 
fond  of  the  theatre,  and  always  went  when 
he  could  find  time.  A  devout  member 
of  the  Episcopal  Church,  he  took  unusual 
interest  in  all  matters  that  pertained 
thereto. 


Dr.  James  M.  Bush 


Chapter  II 

Bush  enters  the  Medical  School 


CHAPTER  II 

BUSH  ENTERS  THE  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

A  FTER  his  removal  to  Lexington,  in 
-^^  1830,  he  at  once  entered  the  Med- 
ical College  of  Transylvania.  He  was 
peculiarly  well  prepared  to  enter  upon 
the  study  of  medicine  at  this  time,  as  he 
had  received  instruction  from  such  an 
eminent  preceptor  as  Goldsmith. 

Bush  had  heard  and  read  much  of  Dud- 
ley and  his  work,  and  he  resolved  to 
place  himself  under  Dudley,  if  possible, 
while  in  college.  In  this  he  was  success- 
ful. He  studied  under  his  direction  and 
became  his  confidential  student.  To 
Dudley  he  became  attached  by  an  affec- 
tion and  esteem  which  was  warmly  re- 
ciprocated by  his   instructor. 

As  a  student  he  was  remarkably  dili- 
gent, and  the  thesis  he  wrote  before 
graduation,    embellished    with    drawings 

and    illustrations    of    no    inconsiderable 


114    Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

merit,  is  still  to  be  seen  in  the  library  of 
Transylvania  University.  He  became 
Dudley's  prosector,  and  he  seems  to 
have  made  drawings  of  the  dissection 
of  the  Axilla  more  accurate  than  any  in 
existence  at  that  time. 

Bush  was  always  in  the  best  of  spirits, 
and  this,  together  with  his  courtly  and 
affable  manner,  made  him  a  favorite  with 
all  the  professors  who  were  connected 
with   the    College    at   that   time. 

In  1833  he  graduated  from  Transyl- 
vania Medical  School  with  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  the  best  anatomist  in  the 
College,  professors  not  excepted. 

Many  an  anecdote,  humorous  or  pa- 
thetic, might  be  told  concerning  the 
young  man  who  was  not  yet  thirty  years 
of  age,  but  those  who  have  read  the  fore- 
going pages  might  feel  tempted  to  cite 
the  caustic  prayer  of  Guerrini: 

"Dominedio  ci  salvi 

Da  i  libri  troppo  lunghi." 


Chapter  III 

Dr.  Bush  engages  in  the  Practice  of  Medicine 


CHAPTER  III 

DR.    BUSH    ENGAGES    IN    THE    PRACTICE    OF 
MEDICINE 

A  FTER  his  graduation  in  1833,  Bush 
was  soon  made  prosector  and  dem- 
onstrator in  Anatomy,  an  office  which 
he  held  with  signal  ability  until  1837, 
when  he  was  officially  appointed  adjunct 
Professor  of  Anatomy  and  Surgery.  In 
1844  he  became  full  Professor  of  Anat- 
omy, Dr.  Dudley  retaining  the  Chair  of 
Surgery.  In  the  position  as  Professor 
of  Anatomy  he  continued  until  the  dis- 
solution of  the  Transylvania  Medical 
School  in   1857. 

His  appointment  as  demonstrator  of 
Anatomy  so  soon  after  his  graduation 
was  indeed  a  distinct  honor  for  a  man  so 
young,  but  when  his  great  attainments 
in  his  chosen  profession  were  considered, 
all  acknowledged  the  honor  conferred 
upon  him  was  justly  deserved. 


Ii8    Kentucky'' s  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

In  1850  Dr.  Bush  and  some  of  his  as- 
sociate professors  went  to  Louisville  and 
assisted  in  the  establishment  of  the  Ken- 
tucky School  of  Medicine.  Then  he  be- 
gan lecturing  at  Transylvania  in  summer 
and  at  Louisville  in  winter. 

He  resigned  the  Louisville  professor- 
ship after  three  years  and  returned  to 
Transylvania,  remaining  there  until  just 
before  the  commencement  of  the  Civil 
War  in  i860.  During  all  this  time  Dr. 
Bush  gave  undivided  attention  to  the 
practice  of  medicine  and  surgery,  for  his 
was  a  temperament  so  full  of  vital  energy 
and  dislike  of  repose  that  he  found  most 
rest  in  most  work. 

Bush  was  a  scholarly  man,  and  his 
writings  on  medical  themes  always  at- 
tracted attention  and  were  widely  read. 
He  made  many  valuable  contributions 
to  medical  and  surgical  literature,  some 
of  which  can  be  found  in  the  volumes  of 
the  Transylvania  Journal  of  Medicine, 
while  others  of  his  articles  were  published 
in  the  Philadelphia  and  New  York  jour- 
nals of  medicine  and  surgery.  He  aided 
more  than  anyone  else  in  giving  to  the 


Kentucky^ s  Pioneer  Lithotomists    119 

world  the  extraordinary  experience  of 
Dr.  Dudley  in  the  practice  of  lithotomy, 
for  which  that  great  surgeon  had  a  world- 
wide reputation,  and  in  the  practice  of 
which  Dr.  Bush  proved  himself  to  be  a 
most  worthy  successor. 

As  a  teacher,  Dr.  Bush  showed  the 
quality  which  marked  him  through  life — 
that  of  clear-headedness.  He  was  dis- 
tinct in  his  enunciation  of  principles, 
exact  in  his  demonstrations,  and  without 
pretense  of  oratory  was  always  interest- 
ing and  lucid  to  his  students,  by  whom 
he  was  very  much  liked.  As  an  instructor 
in  the  dry  and  technical  science  of  Anat- 
omy, he  attained  an  enviable  reputation. 
This  was  to  be  expected  from  his  intimate 
acquaintance  with  the  subject,  his  love 
for  it,  and  the  grip  of  which  his  mind 
was  capable  in  dealing  with  such  intricate 
though  demonstrable  truths. 

In  1839  Dr.  Bush  went  abroad  at  the 
instance  of  the  trustees  of  the  College, 
and  spent  most  of  the  summer  in  Lon- 
don and  Paris,  where  he  purchased  many 
valuable  books  and  instruments  for  the 
College.      Britain   and   France  were   the 


I20    Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

Meccas   of    all    ambitious    and    discrim- 
inating practitioners. 

It  was  the  custom  of  Bush  and  Dudley 
to  divide  the  students  in  the  Medical 
Department  into  groups  and  each  would 
alternate  in  entertaining  them.  In  this 
way  each  budding  medico  was  brought 
into  closer  contact  with  the  professors 
and  with  each  other,  thus  affording  them 
the  pleasure  of  spending  a  pleasant  eve- 
ning. This  practice  was  continued  by 
Dudley  and  Bush  as  long  as  they  were 
connected  with  the  school.  As  a  pro- 
fessor in  Transylvania  Medical  School 
in  its  palmiest  days,  he  is  remembered 
by  those  students  who  are  now  living, 
though  far  advanced  in  years,  and  who 
profited  by  his  teachings. 

Dr.  Bush  formed  a  partnership  with 
Dr.  Dudley,  which  was  only  dissolved 
by  the  death  of  the  latter.  They  had 
quite  pretentious  offices  for  that  day,  as 
they  were  the  acknowledged  surgeons  of 
the  West.  Many  patients  came  from 
far  and  near  to  reap  the  benefits  of  their 
extensive  knowledge.  It  not  infrequently 
happened  that  patients  would  be  brought 


Kentucky^ s  Pioneer  Ltthotomists    121 

to  Bush's  door  lying  on  a  '^shuck  bed" 
or  on  straw  in  a  cart  drawn  by  oxen  which 
had  traveled  a  hundred  miles  or  more. 

No  hospitals  were  in  Lexington  at  that 
time,  so  he  would  send  them  to  Mrs. 
Beatty,  an  old  lady  with  whom  he  had 
arranged  to  keep  such  patients  as  he 
might  send  until  he  was  ready  to  operate 
upon  them.  Mrs.  Beatty  lived  at  the 
corner  of  Walnut  and  Third  Streets  (the 
latter  was  then  known  as  Winchester 
Street).  She  cared  for  a  large  number 
of  patients  sent  her  by  Bush  during  her 
residence  there.  After  the  operation  she 
would  minister  to  their  wants  as  best 
she  could  under  the  guidance  of  Dr. 
Bush.  Thus  it  may  be  considered  that 
this  was  the  first  hospital,  if  it  may  be 
so  called,  established  in  Lexington,  Ken- 
tucky. 

Already  allusion  has  been  made  to  Dr. 
Bush's  wonderful  lucidity.  On  one  occa- 
sion a  young  woman  from  the  town  vis- 
ited the  classroom  and  found  Bush  lec- 
turing to  his  class  on  the  heart  and  cir- 
culation. After  listening  for  a  short  time 
she  fainted.     Upon  being  carried  to  an 


122    Kentucky^ s  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

adjoining  room  she  revived  and  said 
that  he  made  the  subject  so  clear  to  her 
that  she  actually  saw  her  own  heart. 

While  Bush  was  known  all  over  this 
country  as  a  splendid  surgeon,  his  chief 
reputation  lay  in  the  wonderful  dex- 
terity and  skill  with  which  he  executed 
the  operation  for  stone  in  the  bladder. 

When  Dr.  Dudley  retired  in  1850  from 
the  field  of  his  brilliant  achievements  as 
a  surgeon,  Bush  had  the  courage  to  take 
up  his  work,  and  for  many  years  held 
possession  without  a  rival.  When  its 
use  was  feasible,  Bush  preferred  the 
0  lith^trite  to  the  gorget,  though  he  often 
used  the  latter,  doing  the  lateral  opera- 
tion as  Dudley  had  taught  him. 

The  photographs  of  forceps  and  litho- 
trites  shown  on  pages  83  and  123  were  pur- 
chased by  Bush  in  Paris  and  used  by  him. 

It  can  be  authoritatively  stated  that 
Bush  performed  more  Litholopaxies  than 
all  the  rest  of  the  surgeons  in  the  West. 
In  this  operation  he  was  particularly 
successful,  performing  210  Litholopaxies 
with  only  four  deaths.  He  performed 
lithotomy  97  times  with  a  loss  of  two. 


Kentucky^ s  Pioneer  Lithotomists    123 


Lithotrltes  purchased  in  Paris,  France,  by  Dr.  Bush 
and  used  by  him 


Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists    125 

He  bought  all  modern  instruments  and 
had  a  larger  collection  and  more  books 
in  his  library  than  any  two  surgeons 
west  of  the  AUeghenies. 

He  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  his  pro- 
fessional brethren  because  they  knew 
his  ample  knowledge  of  medicine  in  all 
its  practical  departments,  his  diagnostic 
acumen,  and  his  rational  judgment  in 
cases  were  to  be  depended  upon  at  all 
times.  He  won  their  admiration  and 
love  by  his  absolute  fairness  in  all  pro- 
fessional relations.  He  walked  along  the 
broad  and  open  pathway  of  medical  sci- 
ence, illuminated  by  justice  and  truth. 
He  scorned  with  a  bitter  scorn  all  those 
men  who  tried  to  win  success  by  defam- 
ing other  members  of  the  profession.  He 
despised  charlatanry,  whether  practiced 
openly  or  by  men  who  claimed  to  be 
gentlemen  and  regular  members  of  the 
profession. 

Dr.  Bush  was  married  in  1835  to  Miss 
James,  of  Chillicothe,  Ohio,  with  whom 
he  lived  a  life  of  unalloyed  peace  and 
happiness.  To  them  were  born  three 
children,  Thomas  J.,  Dudley,  and  Nannie 


126    Kentucky'' s  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

M.  Bush.  After  the  Medical  College 
burned  in  1863,  he  purchased  the  ground 
on  which  it  had  stood,  at  the  corner  of 
Second  and  Broadway,  and  erected  one 
of  the  handsomest  homes  then  to  be 
found  anywhere  in  the  South.  Here  he 
had  his  office  and  residence  until  his 
death. 

Dr.  Bush  was  a  close  and  keen  ob- 
server, to  which  was  due  his  remarkable 
accuracy  in  delivering  the  pathology  of 
a  given  case.  He  was  probably  better 
known  than  any  other  man  in  Lexington, 
and  had  more  friends  and  fewer  enemies 
— and  this  is  the  highest  praise  that  can 
be  bestowed  upon  any  man. 

Bush  possessed  a  singularly  well-bal- 
anced mind.  His  intellectual  powers 
were  of  the  highest  order;  his  perceptive 
faculties  were  keen,  quick  and  clear, 
enabling  him  to  make  accurate  observa- 
tions upon  disease  and  other  subjects 
to  which  they  were  directed,  separating 
the  true  from  the  false,  the  real  from  the 
hypothetical.  He  had  the  genius  of 
versatility,  that  inborn,  indefinable  ele- 
ment called  talent.     These   more  purely 


Kentucky^ s  Pioneer  Lithotomists    127 


i^it^'»',^  "'<«?r?rfi»'; — '^''">^f»*'y//',,'^ 


Degrees  conferred  upon  Dr.  James  M.  Bush. 

No.  I.  Diploma  admitting  Dr.  Bush  a  Fellow  of  the  Society  of  Phil- 
osophy and  Letters,  presented  to  him  July  3,  1829. 

No.  2.  Testimonial  from  students  who  studied  Anatomy  under  Dr. 
Bush. 

Nos.  3  and  4.     Diplomas  given  Dr.  Bush  by  Center  College. 


Kentucky^ s  Pioneer  Lithotomists    129 


piaiLK<TnBi»» 


^^mmm^mm^^^ 


^^ 


11  i4»<i.  t«g»»lu«»  *ertM».  — *  .--"'  _ 

r     i  iimit-  ^ 


'»»^^Ma/^Uiil^Su^iiu&i^^ 


Certificate  of  Honorary  Membership  in  the  Lexington 
Society  of  Medicine  given  March   15,    1833 


•    Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists    131 

mental  powers  were  so  co-ordinated  and 
impelled  by  the  physical  forces  of  the 
nervous  system  as  to  render  him  com- 
petent to  achieve  definite  results  in  any 
department  of  intellectual  work.  They 
were  discerned  at  an  early  date  by  his 
sagacious  preceptor,  Dr.  Dudley.  He 
saw  that  Bush  possessed  the  precise 
combination  of  mental  powers  to  make 
a  great  surgeon,  and  he  did  not  hesitate 
to  lay  wide  open  to  him  his  own  exten- 
sive field  of  business. 

Dr.  Bush  was  frequently  honored  by 
scientific  bodies,  as  may  be  seen  by 
glancing  at  the  different  diplomas  on 
page  127  given  him  in  recognition  of 
his  scientific  and  professional  attain- 
ments. 

In  July,  1829,  he  was  admitted  as  a 
^Tellow  of  Philosophy  and  Letters"  and 
was  presented  with  a  diploma  (see  page 
127).  He  had  conferred  upon  him  on 
March  16,  1833,  the  honorary  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Medicine  by  Transylvania 
University  (see  page  133).  In  the  same 
month  and  year  he  was  made  honorary 
member   of   the    "Lexington    Society   of 


132    Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

Medicine"  (see  page  129).  This  society 
had  enrolled  among  its  membership  some 
of  the  foremost  men  of  their  day.  Dr. 
B.  W.  Dudley  was  its  President  at  the 
time  the  degree  was  conferred  on  Bush. 
The  meetings  of  this  body  were  conducted 
with  seriousness  and  dignity  and  along 
purely  scientific  lines.  During  the  ex- 
istence of  the  Medico-Chirurgical  Society 
of  Kentucky  he  was  made  an  honored 
member.  This  society  was  among  the 
first  State  Societies  for  the  advancement 
of  Medicine  and  Surgery  formed  west  of 
the  Alleghenies.  On  page  127  may  be 
seen  a  photograph  of  a  testimonial  signed 
by  a  large  number  of  medical  students 
for  the  fidelity  with  which  he  discharged 
the  important  duties  of  Lecturer  on 
Anatomy. 

Everyone  who  knew  him  conceded  him 
candor.  Above  all,  he  had  the  highest 
type  of  personal  honor  and  dignity,  a 
life  above  reproach,  a  spirit  with  aims 
always  noble,  and  always  pursuing  them 
by  means  worthy  of  the  object,  endowed 
with  a  noble  heart  ever  softened  by  the 
cry  of  distress,  and  pained  even  to  agony 


Kentucky^ s  Pioneer  Lithotomists    133 


Honorary  Degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  given  Dr.  Bush 
by  Transylvania  University  March  i6,  1833 


Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists    135 


iiL'iSS 


■^mii> 


Certificate   of   Membership    given   Dr.    Bush   by   the 
Kentucky  Medico-Chirurgical  Society 


Kentucky^ s  Pioneer  Lithotomists    137 

when    the    rehef    of    suffering    was    not 
within  the  power  of  his  art. 

Bush  was  for  twenty-eight  years  an 
honored  and  valuable  member  of  the 
American  Medical  Association.  He  lived 
a  useful  life,  and  when  his  sickness  be- 
came known  throughout  the  country, 
and  especially  in  his  home  city,  there 
came  a  feeling  over  all  classes  that  some 
indefinable  danger  was  imminent,  and 
that  the  accustomed  safeguard  would  be 
wanting  if  the  great  surgeon  were  taken 
away.  He  died  on  the  morning  of  Feb- 
ruary 14,  1875,  from  diabetes,  a  disease 
from  which  he  had  suffered  some  months 
prior  to  his  death.  Upon  the  death  of 
Dr.  Bush  there  appeared  from  an  un- 
known pen,  in  memoriam,  the  following 
lines : 

"The  icy  rain  drifts  drearily; 

Dark  clouds  are  sailing  low; 
The  wind  sobs  sadly,  wearily, 

Burdened  with  human  woe. 
But,  remember,  ye  who  wrestle 

With  the  mighty  grief  today, 
'Neath  the  cold,  green  fields  nestle, 

Blue  lies  still  beyond  the  gray. 


138    Kentucky^ s  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

"Shadows  fall  where  ye  must  enter. 

Bow  beneath  them;  they  will  pass 
As  the  shadows  of  the  winter 

From  the  gardens  and  the  grass. 
Summer's  golden  pictured  story 

Springs  from  ruin,   mould   and  dross; 
Germs  of  grief  bear  fruits  of  glory 

In  the  shadow  of  the  Cross. 

"Heart-chains   break   for   they   are   mortal, 

But   a   strong  Hand   holds   each   link, 
And  they  draw  us  towards  a  portal 

That  Is  nearer  than  we  think. 
For  Its  silent,  mystic  splendor 

Is  unveiled  by  Love  and  Faith, 
Salth  our  Master,  wise  and  tender; 

And  He  meaneth  what  He  salth. 

"Sorrow's  darkest  mines  all  shimmer 

With  rich  gold;  her  sterile  sand 
Gleams  with  jewels;  do  not  murmur; 

They  were  hidden  by  His  hand. 
Ye  shall  find  this  priceless  treasure 

Cleansed  from  stain  and  safe  from  loss, 
Heaped  unto  you  without  measure, 

Overshadowed  bv  the  Cross." 


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Grave  of  Dr.  James  M.  Bush 


Chapter  I 

Dr.  Robert  Peter 


CHAPTER  I 

DOCTOR    ROBERT    PETER 

^T^HIS  book  would  be  incomplete  with- 
^     out    mentioning    those    whose    lives 
and  daily  work  were  so  intimately  asso- 
ciated with  these  great  surgeons. 

Doctor  Robert  Peter  was  born  at 
Launceston,  Cornwall,  on  January  21, 
1805.  His  family  were  distinguished  for 
their  learning.  His  parents  emigrated 
from  England  to  this  country  when  he 
was  about  twelve  years  old,  landing  at 
Baltimore  and  later  settling  in  Pitts- 
burg, Pennsylvania.  While  Peter  was 
still  a  youth,  he  was  placed  in  the  whole- 
sale drug  house,  conducted  and  owned 
by  Charles  Avery,  of  Pittsburg.  There 
he  began  to  lay  the  foundation  for  his 
chemical  education,  a  branch  of  science 
in  which  he  afterward  shone  with  bril- 
liancy. 

He  took  a  course  at  the  '^Rensselaer 


146    Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

Institute  Scientific  School"  at  Troy,  New- 
York.  Here  he  acquired  the  title  of 
"Lecturer  on  Natural  Sciences."  Sub- 
sequently he  lectured  to  small  classes  in 
Pittsburg,  on  chemistry.  While  in  that 
city  he  was  made  a  member  of  the  "Pitts- 
burg Philosophical  Society"  and  deliv- 
ered a  series  of  lectures  before  the  latter 
body.  During  1830-31  he  lectured  on 
Chemistry  at  the  Western  University  of 
Pennsylvania. 

In  1832  he  moved  to  Lexington,  Ken- 
tucky, to  become  a  partner  with  the 
Rev.  Benjamin  O.  Peter  in  an  "Eclectic 
Institute."  This  latter  institute  was 
located  at  West  Second  Street,  on  the 
site  where  "Hagerman  College"  now 
stands.  Shortly  after  his  arrival  in  Lex- 
ington he  was  made  adjunct  Professor 
in  Chemistry  to  Dr.  Yandell.  After  serv- 
ing in  this  capacity  for  some  time  he  was 
made  Professor  of  Chemistry  at  Morrison 
College  in  March,  1833. 

Dr.  Peter  studied  medicine  in  Tran- 
sylvania Medical  School  for  one  year, 
receiving  the  degree  of  "Doctor  of  Med- 
icine."    He  soon  found,  after  practicing 


Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists    147 


Dr.  Robert  Peter 


Kentucky'' s  Pioneer  Lithotomists    149 

a  short  while,  that  he  did  not  like  the 
practice  of  medicine,  and  retired  to  en- 
gage in  a  more  congenial  pursuit. 

In  1838  he  was  made  Professor  of 
Chemistry  and  Pharmacy  in  Transyl- 
vania Medical  School  which  had  been 
started  only  a  few  years  previous.  It 
was  here,  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties, 
that  he  met  and  became  intimately  as- 
sociated with  Dudley  and  Bush.  He  was 
connected  with  the  school  until  its  close. 

Dr.  Peter  was  a  great  admirer  of  Dud- 
ley and  Bush,  and  often  watched  these 
surgeons  while  at  work,  being  often  called 
upon  to  make  analyses  of  specimens 
sent  him  by  these  illustrious  men.  The 
stones  whose  photographs  are  shown  on 
pages  87  to  95  were  all  examined  care- 
fully by  him  at  the  instance  of  Dudley 
and  Bush,  in  order  to  ascertain  their 
composition,  which  he  did  with  his  usual 
scientific  accuracy.  Dr.  Peter  mounted 
the  stones  on  pasteboard,  as  is  shown  in 
the  photographs,  giving  the  composition 
and  in  many  instances  the  names  of  the 
persons  from  whom  the  stones  were  re- 
moved.    Both  Dudley  and  Bush  had  an 


150    Kentucky^ s  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

idea  that  If  a  careful  chemical  analysis 
were  made  of  the  stones  removed  by 
them,  that  some  conception  as  to  the 
cause  of  their  formation  might  be  gained, 
and  it  was  this  that  prompted  Dr.  Peter 
to  examine  every  stone  sent  him,  a  tre- 
mendous task,  running  as  it  did  into  the 
hundreds.  One  can  readily  appreciate 
the  great  assistance  Dr.  Peter  was  to 
these  surgeons  from  the  fact  that  he 
was  not  only  a  highly  cultured  man  and 
possessed  of  good  knowledge  of  medicine, 
but  was  one  of  the  best  known  chemists 
in  this  country. 

Dr.  Peter  was  a  most  indefatigable 
worker,  often  saying  that  he  would  rather 
"wear  out  than  rust  out" — a  wish  that 
was  gratified.  He  retained  his  vigor  of 
mind  and  body  up  to  a  very  short  time 
before  his  death,  which  took  place  at 
"Winton,"  his  beautiful  home,  eight 
miles  north  of  Lexington,  Ky.,  on  April 
26,  1894.  With  grace  and  dignity  he 
had  worn  what  Shakespeare,  in  his  Henry 
VI,  called 

"The  silver  livery  of  advised  age." 


Kentucky'' s  Pioneer  Lithotomists    151 

One  who  was  associated  with  him  for 
a  great  number  of  years  and  knew  him 
intimately,  said:  '^Intense  devotion  to 
physical  science  and  work  of  the  lab- 
oratory, purity  of  speech  and  modesty 
of  manner,  fidelity  to  all  duties,  domes- 
tic, professional  and  civic,  his  long  and 
illustrious  career  in  educating  so  many 
thousands  of  the  young,  and  in  setting 
before  them  a  model  worthy  of  their 
imitation  and  remembrance — these  were 
the  traits,  this  was  the  service  that 
crowded  his  busy  life  of  nearly  ninety 
years  with  honor,  admiration  and  re- 
nown." 


Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists    153 


Transylvania  University  Medical  Hall 

Second  Street  and  Broadway,  Lexington,  Kentucky.     Built  in  1839. 
Burned,  1863. 


Chapter  II 


Absolom  Driver,  The  Janitor  of  Transylvania 
University  Medical  Hall 


CHAPTER  II 

ABSOLOM     DRIVER THE     JANITOR     OF 

TRANSYLVANIA    UNIVERSITY 
MEDICAL    HALL 

'T^HIS  unique  old  character  was  a  Vir- 
-^  ginia  negro;  and  just  how  or  when 
he  came  to  Lexington  is  not  known.  It 
seems  that  after  the  estabhshment  of  the 
Medical  College  in  Lexington,  Kentucky, 
the  trustees  experienced  some  difficulty 
in  securing  the  services  of  a  janitor  who 
would  discharge  the  duties  satisfactorily. 
After  some  discussion,  the  matter  was 
placed  in  the  hands  of  Doctor  Dudley, 
who  was  then  Dean  of  the  College.  After 
casting  about  for  a  proper  man  to  fill 
the  position,  he  finally  selected  '^Old 
Absolom,"  as  he  was  familiarly  known. 
Absolom  held  the  position  of  janitor 
up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  which  oc- 
curred a  short  while  before  the  College 
burned.  Absolom  took  great  pride  in 
arranging  the  operating  room  and  hav- 
ing everything  in  readiness  for  Doctors 
Dudley    and    Bush,    often    being    called 


158    Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists 

upon  to  assist  in  holding  the  patient 
while  the  doctors  performed  the  opera- 
tion, as  anaesthesia  was  not  known  at 
that  time.  Another  duty  which  Abso- 
lom  was  required  to  perform  was  that  of 
securing  "stiffs"  for  the  dissecting  room, 
presided  over  by  Dr.  Bush.  So  expert 
was  he  in  the  performance  of  this  par- 
ticularly gruesome  duty  that  the  College 
never  lacked  material  for  dissection. 

No,  it  was  not  this  old  Southern  darkey 
who  wrote  this  limerick,  but  he  would  if 
he  could: 

"There  once  were  some  learned  M.  D.'s, 
.    Who    captured    some    germs    of    disease, 
And  Infected  a  train, 
Which,  without  causing  pain, 
Allowed   one   to   catch   it  with   ease." 

Absolom  was  scrupulously  polite,  al- 
ways deferential  to  his  superiors,  who 
treated  him  with  great  consideration. 
At  the  time  his  death  was  announced  the 
faculty  assembled  in  the  "Hall"  of  the 
Medical  College  and  passed  resolutions 
of  respect,  as  he  had  held  the  position 
of  keeper  of  the  Medical  Hall  for  many 
years  with  unswerving  fidelity  to  his 
masters. 


Kentucky'^ s  Pioneer  Lithotomists    159 


Absolom  Driver,  for  many  years  Janitor  of 
Transylvania  Medical  Hall 


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